Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

I've heard talk about how ATT is "working on their network coverage" and plans to provide 3G service in Northeast MI "in the coming months". Well, now that another 2 year contract has expired, I'm seriously wondering if I would be better off jumping to Verizon. The EDGE data network up here if virtually useless. 5 full bars, yet extremely poor data transfer.

Can anyone provide an HONEST answer as to when this coverage is planned to be upgraded??? Verizon has had 3G for quite a long while up here...

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Lol Lewyman, in AT&T's case it is probably just a network problem in Gaylord. They won't be testing LTE there for a long time. I see a little blob of Verizon LTE somewhat near Gaylord on Sensorly. They should be turning on the entire Gaylord area very shortly.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

If Sprint has LTE coverage popping up in northern Michigan, then AT&T should have the same or more spectrum shouldn't they? Or is Sprint deploying LTE on another band other than 700MHz? Spotted that little bit of coverage northwest of Gaylord but it is in the extended area on Verizon's coverage map. I mapped Verizon 4G on 75 up to around the 197 mile marker. On the return trip the signal was on and off so they must be still testing.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

I have a question. Since Gladstone and Escanaba have HSPA+ 4G now, when the time comes when we get 4G LTE does AT&T have to add new equipment to the towers for LTE or is it as simple as "flipping the switch"?

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

AT&T will need to add more antennas to the cell sites that are currently HSPA+ only, since their LTE network runs on different frequencies than HSPA+. But in order to launch LTE in northern MI (including the U.P), AT&T needs to aquire more spectrum for LTE or wait a while until hardware manufacturers can create radio baseband processors that can handle LTE on 700/800/1900/1700/2100Mhz bands

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

@TpeltzYou have more knowledge of spectrum than I do so I will ask a question. We know AT&T currently doesn't have the needed paired 700 Mhz spectrum to launch LTE in northern Mi but from what I gather they do own a lot of AWS spectrum statewide. Could AT&T use strictly that spectrum to launch LTE/LTE-A instead of using 700??

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Ok, thank you.

I see AT&T updated their coverage map as of 04/02/13 but it doesnt show the new 4G data coverage in Gladstone/Escanaba. Unless they are wating until they are done ugrading all their towers in the U.P. before adding the new coverage areas?

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

When Gaylord got 4G last year, I think it took two months or so before it showed up on the map. But I will say I have seen new coverage appear on there without the date changing so it could appear anytime. It will be nice to see as Alpena and possibly Cheboygan, Escanaba/Gladstone, and hopefully many more areas will turn darker blue.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Time for another AT&T 4G LTE network expansion. This morning, AT&T announced that its LTE service is now available in a handful of new markets that are peppered across the U.S., including Kalamazoo, Mich., Rocky Mount, N.C., and Santa Rosa-Petaluma, Calif. AT&T has also expanded some of its existing coverage in other markets, bringing more LTE service to places like Greensboro, N.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area.

There's also some good news this morning for AT&T customers that are still without access to Big Blue's 4G LTE network. AT&T has named a long list of cities (all in separate announcements) that will be gaining LTE coverage this summer. There are quite a few towns that'll be joining Club AT&T LTE this summer, including Cape Cod, Mass., Davenport, Iowa, and Salem, Ore. The full lists of AT&T's new, expanded and upcoming are all available at the bottom of this post.

AT&T has said in the past that it plans to cover 250 million people with its LTE network by the time that 2013 comes to an end, and with today's lengthy list of markets that'll be going live in the summer, it looks like the carrier is pushing hard to reach that goal. It's not clear exactly when each city will be going live, but at least AT&T customers in those locales now know that their own taste of 4G LTE goodness is getting close. Stay tuned and we'll give you a shout once AT&T starts flipping its switches.